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Tanner Johnson
Spencer Hannah |job = Freelance photographer Night-time doorman |path = Serial killer Vigilante Stalker |mo = Strangulation |status = Incarcerated |actor = Jack Plotnick |appearance = "Gatekeeper"}} "This is proof! This is proof that I can protect our new baby! This is proof…proof that I'm never, NEVER going to let anything or anyone ever hurt him!" Tanner Johnson is a delusional serial killer who appeared in Season Nine of Criminal Minds. Background Tanner was a freelance photographer and night-time doorman married to Hannah Johnson, with whom he had a son named Jeremy Johnson. One day, while Jeremy was playing wrestling with a friend, Tanner was called away and left the room for a minute. When he returned, he found the friend trying to resuscitate Jeremy after a chokehold had gone wrong. Jeremy died after being on life-support for a few days. Consumed with guilt over failing to watch his son, Tanner began watching the tenants of an apartment building, paternally transferring to them and creating a fantasy where he was their guardian. Two months prior to Gatekeeper, Hannah divorced Tanner and threw him out of the house. Tanner snapped and began killing perceived 'bad influences' to his tenants. He murdered Michael Dunsmore, who was a marijuana user, and Ryan Maxford, who was always broke and asking for money. Gatekeeper When Scott Delfino leaves after sleeping with Ashley Foulandi, Tanner stalks and ambushes him, killing him like he murdered the other two victims. Placing mementos in a scrapbook, he overhears Jake Preston talking with another of his tenants, who tried to offer him smokes and gave him a video game he wasn't supposed to have. Tanner tracked down Jake at his home and murders him in the middle of his game. He then goes to work, but is surprised by Ashley when she sees his scrapbook, and after a struggle sends her crashing to the floor three stories down. Panicking, Tanner garrottes her postmortem and dumps her in a trash bin elsewhere. On seeing that his wife is going into labor, Tanner breaks into her house and kills her brother. Completely delusional, Tanner shows Hannah his new scrapbook as proof that he can protect their child. Hannah begins going into labor, and Tanner insists he can deliver the baby himself. Reid and Morgan come in, and a panicking Tanner threatens Hannah with scissors. Reid convinces him to hand over the weapon by claiming that the baby's umbilical cord is wrapped around his neck, and Morgan grabs Tanner and drags him away. Modus Operandi After observing his victims interacting with what he perceived as a bad influence, Tanner would stalk them and blitz them, strangling them with some form of wire. He would them photograph their dead bodies, take a souvenir such as a wallet and a piece of hair, and place them (along with the murder weapon) in a scrapbook. Profile The unsub is a dangerous voyeur who feeds off the thrill of knowing his victims don't see him. Typically, voyeurs are nonviolent and content to remain bystanders. This one is different. He is on a mission that includes taking action. In that mission, he didn't hesitate to kill a teenage boy. Anyone who stands between him and his goal is at risk. He's documenting his kills, by taking pictures and collecting personal connections to his victims; their wallets and their hair. It's important to him to have proof of what he's doing. Voyeurs like to create fantasies in their head of what the objects of their obsessions should be like. He creates a character identity instead of a reality and when a person steps outside the parameters that the unsub has set for them, he strikes. He seems to be triggered by males acting on what he perceives to be character flaws. Seemingly innocuous infractions to most people are magnified in the unsub's psychosis. Based on the planning and sophistication of the kills, he's believed to be in his late 30s or 40s. The geographic profile reveals that he is not only dumping his victims' bodies downtown, he is hunting there, too. He's a fly on the wall. He's able to learn secrets without anyone realizing he's there. He'll have a job that involves very little social interaction, but it puts him in a position where he can observe others unnoticed. He may work as a service worker, groundskeeper, any job paying him to be invisible. The unsub is approaching some sort of perceived deadline. The closer it gets, the more erratic and dangerous he'll become. Known Victims *Michael Dunsmore *Ryan Maxford *Scott Delfino *Jake Preston *Ashley Fouladi *Hannah Johnson Appearances *Season Nine **"Gatekeeper" Category:Criminal Minds Characters Category:Criminals Category:Season Nine Criminals Category:Serial Killers Category:Stalkers Category:Vigilantes Category:Psychotics